Was going to go to an Apple Store today and get a 20" Cinema display ($699 with student discount), but now see the Dell 2005FPW on sale for what in essence will be a $200 difference.

What to do?? Get the Dell now or stick with my original plan and get the Cinema display.

Please help me out with some input. Leaving early morning to visit relatives and the Apple store is near there.....

Thanks.

If you search around the site, there have been many discussions about this. If you're strapped for cash or want the Dell's extra features, go for it. If you find the extra perceived value of owning an ADC, then buy it. Quality is the same, performance is the same. Pretty much the only difference is features, price, and the warranty (3 for Dell, 1 for Apple).

Personally, I would want the ADC just because it looks pretty, though I would buy the Dell because of the USB hub as well as the extra inputs and PIP._________________Computer Engineer
Junior, Brown University
15" NC8430 HP Laptop
1.42Ghz PPC Mac Mini, 1Gb RAM, 1st Gen
40GB G4 iPod
2GB Black iPod Nano

Was going to go to an Apple Store today and get a 20" Cinema display ($699 with student discount), but now see the Dell 2005FPW on sale for what in essence will be a $200 difference.

What to do?? Get the Dell now or stick with my original plan and get the Cinema display.

Please help me out with some input. Leaving early morning to visit relatives and the Apple store is near there.....

Thanks.

They both have the same native resolution. The Dell offers more options for placement and height adjustments, but wont match the aesthetics of you Apple products as well. The Apple has fewer options for placement, but has a much greater aesthetic appeal. The Dell will probably run a few degrees cooler than the Apple, due to better ventilation. In the end, either will do a fine job as a monitor. Perhaps, you could use the $200.00 saved for some software, such as Microsoft Office for Students?_________________Mac Pro Quad 2.66GHz, PowerMac G5 2.3 GHz, iMac Core Duo 17", MacBook Pro 2GHz, MacBook Pro 2.2GHz, Mac mini Core 2 Duo 1.83GHz. Multi-K9 Security System. No false alarms, just lots of sharp teeth.
www.grweather.com

$200 difference? Try $310 difference from the student price, or $410 difference from the standard price (the 2005fpw is currently $389 with coupons). For that much money, it is no contest. I am perfectly happy with my 2005fpw.

Coupon codes are available at slickdeals.net or dealmac.com, and probably also several other places. They are generally good for a certain timeframe or until xxx number of uses, so when you see them you have to jump on it. Also, I understand that these codes usually only work at the US Dell store.

I have roughly 170 Dell LCDs under my care, they've all served me well. I'd not opt for the super cheap LCDs...spend a little more and get a decent product. I love the Apple monitors but they come with too much of a premium for me. I do wish someone (besides LG or NEC) would create a white display.

What pisses me off about LCD monitors is that I've been running UXGA on my laptop (1600x1200) and it's only a 15" screen. That resolution is about the same size for the 2005FPW. I'm going to have all that extra room and basically lose screen real estate? My parents will be buying me an LCD for my Mini come late August when I go off to Brown and I really want the 2005FPW, but I like having such a high pixel density.